The unbeaten knock of 93 runs from mere 79 deliveries by Chirag Jani led Saurashtra to a three wicket win against J&K in the first match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy tournament at JU Second Campus, Salt Lake, Kolkata on Sunday .
In its chase of 279 run target, set by J&K, Saurashtra needed 18 runs to win from last three overs with three wickets in hand. J&K skipper Parvez Rasool opted himself to bowl in 48th over with the hope of some spin magic. However, the decision proved wrong as he was taken for 10 runs. Saurashtra achieved target for the loss of seven wickets in 49.1 overs.
It was middle over bowling that let J&K down after being given brilliant start by its pace duo of Ram Dayal and Mujtaba Yousuf.
Earlier, J&K put into bat first posted a total of 279 runs on board for the loss of nine wickets in allotted 50 overs. Shubham Khajuria top scored with 68 while as Vivrant Sharma scored 66. Abid Mushtaq played blazing unbeaten knock of 50 from 30 deliveries. Parvez could score only 25 while as Suryansh Raina scored 24.
For Saurashtra, DA Jadeja, C Sakariya took three wickets each while as K Makwana took two. In reply , Saurashtra were jolted early by J&K pacers. Ram Dayal gave J&K breakthrough on the first ball of the inning , getting rid off opener H Desai for naught . In the fourth over , Mujtaba gave J&K double breakthrough . He got wickets of AA Barot and P Mankad to leave Saurashtra chase in tatters .
It was the time when J&K were in full control and seemed on track for earning a big win. However, V Jadeja and AV Vasavada formed a stand of 86 runs to take Saurashtra to 103 runs in 22 overs.
Vivrant Sharma broke the stand for J&K. He got back to back wickets of V Jadeja and D Chauhan in 23rd over .
That brought Chirag Jani in the middle . He first formed 59 runs stand with AV Vasavada and then 82 run stand with DA Jadeja to take game away from J&K.
Saurashtra achieved target in 49.1 overs for the loss of seven wickets.
Chirag Jani with 93 not out was highest scorer for them. Vasavada with 66, V Jadeja with 48 and D Jadeja with 40 were highest scorers for them.
For J&K, Ram Dayal, Mujtaba Yousuf, Vivrant Sharma took two wickets each while as Abid Mushtaq took one .
Saurashtra got four points from the match while as J&K got nil.
J&K is scheduled to take on Services in its next match on February 23.